Memory implantation: Difference between revisions
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Memory implantation is used in [[cognitive psychology]] to investigate human memory. In memory implantation studies researchers make people believe that they remember an event that actually never happened. The false memories that have been successfully implanted in people’s memories include remembering being lost in a mall as a child, taking a hot air balloon ride, and putting slime in a teacher’s desk in primary school.<ref name=Loftus>{{cite journal|last=Loftus|first=Elizabeth F|coauthors=Pickrell, Jacqueline E|title=The Formation of False Memories|journal=Psychiatric Annals|year=1995|month=December|volume=25|issue=12|pages=720–725}}</ref> <ref>{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=Kimberley A|coauthors=Garry, Maryanne; Read, J. Don; Lindsay, Stephen|title=A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2002|month=September|volume=9|issue=3|pages=597–603|doi=10.3758/BF03196318}}</ref> <ref>{{cite journal|last=Lindsay|first=D.S|coauthors=Hagen, L., Read, J.D., Wade, K.A., & Garry, M.|title=True photographs and false memories|journal=Psychological Science|year=2004|volume=15|pages=149–154|doi=10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503002.x|pmid=15016285|issue=3}}</ref> Memory implantation techniques were developed in the 1990’s as a way of providing evidence for the reconstructive properties of human memory. Most of the studies on memory implantation were published in the context of the debate about repressed memories and the possible danger of digging for lost memories in therapy. Successfully implanting memories in people’s minds have implications for therapy and legal settings. |
Memory implantation is used in [[cognitive psychology]] to investigate human memory. In memory implantation studies researchers make people believe that they remember an event that actually never happened. The false memories that have been successfully implanted in people’s memories include remembering being lost in a mall as a child, taking a hot air balloon ride, and putting slime in a teacher’s desk in primary school.<ref name=Loftus>{{cite journal|last=Loftus|first=Elizabeth F|coauthors=Pickrell, Jacqueline E|title=The Formation of False Memories|journal=Psychiatric Annals|year=1995|month=December|volume=25|issue=12|pages=720–725}}</ref> <ref>{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=Kimberley A|coauthors=Garry, Maryanne; Read, J. Don; Lindsay, Stephen|title=A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2002|month=September|volume=9|issue=3|pages=597–603|doi=10.3758/BF03196318}}</ref> <ref>{{cite journal|last=Lindsay|first=D.S|coauthors=Hagen, L., Read, J.D., Wade, K.A., & Garry, M.|title=True photographs and false memories|journal=Psychological Science|year=2004|volume=15|pages=149–154|doi=10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503002.x|pmid=15016285|issue=3}}</ref> Memory implantation techniques were developed in the 1990’s as a way of providing evidence for the reconstructive properties of human memory. Most of the studies on memory implantation were published in the context of the debate about repressed memories and the possible danger of digging for lost memories in therapy. Successfully implanting memories in people’s minds have implications for therapy and legal settings. |
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== Successful memory implantation == |
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=== Published studies === |
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The first formal studies using memory implantation were published in the early 1990's, the most famous being "The Formation of False Memories" (commonly referred to as the [[lost in the mall technique|"Lost in the Mall"]] study) by [[Elizabeth Loftus|Loftus]] and Pickrell <ref name=Loftus/>. The basic technique used in this study involved getting family members of a participant to provide narratives of events that happened when they were young and then add another event that definitely did not happen. The participants got these four narratives and were told to try to remember as much as possible about each event. Across a number of studies using memory implantation about 37% of people have come to remember part of or entire events that never actually happened.<ref name="wade and garry">{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=Kimberly A.|coauthors=Garry, Maryanne|title=Strategies for verifying false autobiographical memories|journal=The American Journal of Psychology|year=2005|volume=118|issue=4|pages=587-602}}</ref> Other studies have expanded on this paradigm by introducing photos instead of narratives. Wade and colleagues found that 50% of people came to remember details of a hot air balloon ride that never happened after seeing a manipulated photo depicting the event.<ref name="air baloon">{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=K.A.|coauthors=Garry, M., Read, J.D., & Lindsay, D.S.|title=A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories.|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2002|volume=9|pages=597-603}}</ref> Later it has been argued that photos by themselves do not produce more false memories than narratives but that both methods have the power to successfully implant false memories.<ref name="picture less than words">{{cite journal|last=Garry|first=Maryanne|coauthors=Wade, Kimberly A.|title=Actually, a picture is worth less than 45 words: Narratives produce more false memories than photographs do|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2005|volume=12|issue=2|pages=359-366}}</ref> Real photos have also been found to increase the creation of false memories. In a study by Lindsay and colleagues people were shown a childhood photo from the same time period as the false event. Seeing the photo resulted in more false memories even when the photos did not depict the actual event.<ref name=slime>{{cite journal|last=Lindsay|first=D.S.|coauthors=Hagen, L., Read, J.D., Wade, K.A., & Garry, M.|title=True photographs and false memories.|journal=Psychological Science|year=2004|volume=15|pages=149-154}}</ref> |
The first formal studies using memory implantation were published in the early 1990's, the most famous being "The Formation of False Memories" (commonly referred to as the [[lost in the mall technique|"Lost in the Mall"]] study) by [[Elizabeth Loftus|Loftus]] and Pickrell <ref name=Loftus/>. The basic technique used in this study involved getting family members of a participant to provide narratives of events that happened when they were young and then add another event that definitely did not happen. The participants got these four narratives and were told to try to remember as much as possible about each event. Across a number of studies using memory implantation about 37% of people have come to remember part of or entire events that never actually happened.<ref name="wade and garry">{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=Kimberly A.|coauthors=Garry, Maryanne|title=Strategies for verifying false autobiographical memories|journal=The American Journal of Psychology|year=2005|volume=118|issue=4|pages=587-602}}</ref> Other studies have expanded on this paradigm by introducing photos instead of narratives. Wade and colleagues found that 50% of people came to remember details of a hot air balloon ride that never happened after seeing a manipulated photo depicting the event.<ref name="air baloon">{{cite journal|last=Wade|first=K.A.|coauthors=Garry, M., Read, J.D., & Lindsay, D.S.|title=A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories.|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2002|volume=9|pages=597-603}}</ref> Later it has been argued that photos by themselves do not produce more false memories than narratives but that both methods have the power to successfully implant false memories.<ref name="picture less than words">{{cite journal|last=Garry|first=Maryanne|coauthors=Wade, Kimberly A.|title=Actually, a picture is worth less than 45 words: Narratives produce more false memories than photographs do|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2005|volume=12|issue=2|pages=359-366}}</ref> Real photos have also been found to increase the creation of false memories. In a study by Lindsay and colleagues people were shown a childhood photo from the same time period as the false event. Seeing the photo resulted in more false memories even when the photos did not depict the actual event.<ref name=slime>{{cite journal|last=Lindsay|first=D.S.|coauthors=Hagen, L., Read, J.D., Wade, K.A., & Garry, M.|title=True photographs and false memories.|journal=Psychological Science|year=2004|volume=15|pages=149-154}}</ref> |
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=== Legal case === |
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A real life example of memory implantation occurred during the criminal case against [[Thurston county ritual abuse case|Paul Ingram]]. Ingram was accused by his daughters of recurring sexual abuse. Ingram denied all allegations at first but after being interviewed by police and therapists he came to remember multiple instances of abuse. Psychologist Richard Ofshe (wiki) considered this confession a result of suggestive questioning and decided to test his theory. He told Ingram about a made up scenario and said it was another accusation made by his children. Ofshe asked Ingram to try and remember as much as possible about this new event. Ingram could not recall anything straight away but after thinking about it for some time came up with a written confession where he described in detail what had happened. His children confirmed to Ofshe that the event had never actually happened, Ingram had created an entirely false memory of an event after suggestions from Ofshe. Richard Ofshe considered this successful memory implantation evidence of Paul Ingram’s suggestibility and it also casts doubt on the other confessions Ingram has made.<ref name=Ofshe>{{cite journal|last=Ofshe|first=Richard J.|title=Inadvertent Hypnosis During Interrogation: False Confession Due to Dissociative State; Mis-Identified Multiple Personality and the Satanic Cult Hypothesis|journal=International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis|year=1992|volume=40|issue=3|pages=125-156}}</ref> |
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== Implications == |
== Implications == |
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The methods used in memory implantation studies are meant to mimic those used by some therapists to [[recovered memory therapy|recover]] [[repressed memories]] of childhood events .<ref name=wade and garry/> The high rate of people "remembering" false events shows that memories cannot always be taken at face value. Being told to go home and look at old photos to jog your memory can help you remember real events, but paired with suggestions from a therapist it might also lead to false memories. Memory implantation studies are also similar to recovered memory therapy in the way that they involved an authoritative figure claiming to know that the event actually happened and applying pressure on the participant/patient to remember.<ref name=wade and garry/> Memory implantation techniques in general also illustrate how people can come to remember things that actually never happened relatively easy. This poses a big problem for confessions to crimes resulting from suggestive questioning by police and others and also for the accuracy associated with [[eyewitness memory]]. Some people have argued that memory implantation studies are not applicable to real life memories of trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse. As it is not ethical to try to implant false memories of sexual abuse researchers have tried to get around this by choosing other events that are seen as negative but not traumatic. Being lost in a shopping mall for example would be a negative experience for most children.<ref name=Loftus/> Hyman and colleagues used memory implantation techniques with emotional events such as a specific birthday party (positive) and being hospitalized overnight(negative). They found that using emotional events did not change the rate of false memory creation significantly compared with other studies.<ref name=Hyman>{{cite journal|last=Hyman|first=Ira E.|coauthors=Husband, Troy H, Billings, James F.|title=False Memories of Childhood Experiences|journal=Applied Cognitive Psychology|year=1995|volume=9|pages=181-197}}</ref> |
The methods used in memory implantation studies are meant to mimic those used by some therapists to [[recovered memory therapy|recover]] [[repressed memories]] of childhood events .<ref name=wade and garry/> The high rate of people "remembering" false events shows that memories cannot always be taken at face value. Being told to go home and look at old photos to jog your memory can help you remember real events, but paired with suggestions from a therapist it might also lead to false memories. Memory implantation studies are also similar to recovered memory therapy in the way that they involved an authoritative figure claiming to know that the event actually happened and applying pressure on the participant/patient to remember.<ref name=wade and garry/> Memory implantation techniques in general also illustrate how people can come to remember things that actually never happened relatively easy. This poses a big problem for confessions to crimes resulting from suggestive questioning by police and others and also for the accuracy associated with [[eyewitness memory]]. Some people have argued that memory implantation studies are not applicable to real life memories of trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse. As it is not ethical to try to implant false memories of sexual abuse researchers have tried to get around this by choosing other events that are seen as negative but not traumatic. Being lost in a shopping mall for example would be a negative experience for most children.<ref name=Loftus/> Hyman and colleagues used memory implantation techniques with emotional events such as a specific birthday party (positive) and being hospitalized overnight(negative). They found that using emotional events did not change the rate of false memory creation significantly compared with other studies.<ref name=Hyman>{{cite journal|last=Hyman|first=Ira E.|coauthors=Husband, Troy H, Billings, James F.|title=False Memories of Childhood Experiences|journal=Applied Cognitive Psychology|year=1995|volume=9|pages=181-197}}</ref> |
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Memory implantation is used in cognitive psychology to investigate human memory. In memory implantation studies researchers make people believe that they remember an event that actually never happened. The false memories that have been successfully implanted in people’s memories include remembering being lost in a mall as a child, taking a hot air balloon ride, and putting slime in a teacher’s desk in primary school.[1] [2] [3] Memory implantation techniques were developed in the 1990’s as a way of providing evidence for the reconstructive properties of human memory. Most of the studies on memory implantation were published in the context of the debate about repressed memories and the possible danger of digging for lost memories in therapy. Successfully implanting memories in people’s minds have implications for therapy and legal settings.
Successful memory implantation
Published studies
The first formal studies using memory implantation were published in the early 1990's, the most famous being "The Formation of False Memories" (commonly referred to as the "Lost in the Mall" study) by Loftus and Pickrell [1]. The basic technique used in this study involved getting family members of a participant to provide narratives of events that happened when they were young and then add another event that definitely did not happen. The participants got these four narratives and were told to try to remember as much as possible about each event. Across a number of studies using memory implantation about 37% of people have come to remember part of or entire events that never actually happened.[4] Other studies have expanded on this paradigm by introducing photos instead of narratives. Wade and colleagues found that 50% of people came to remember details of a hot air balloon ride that never happened after seeing a manipulated photo depicting the event.[5] Later it has been argued that photos by themselves do not produce more false memories than narratives but that both methods have the power to successfully implant false memories.[6] Real photos have also been found to increase the creation of false memories. In a study by Lindsay and colleagues people were shown a childhood photo from the same time period as the false event. Seeing the photo resulted in more false memories even when the photos did not depict the actual event.[7]
Legal case
A real life example of memory implantation occurred during the criminal case against Paul Ingram. Ingram was accused by his daughters of recurring sexual abuse. Ingram denied all allegations at first but after being interviewed by police and therapists he came to remember multiple instances of abuse. Psychologist Richard Ofshe (wiki) considered this confession a result of suggestive questioning and decided to test his theory. He told Ingram about a made up scenario and said it was another accusation made by his children. Ofshe asked Ingram to try and remember as much as possible about this new event. Ingram could not recall anything straight away but after thinking about it for some time came up with a written confession where he described in detail what had happened. His children confirmed to Ofshe that the event had never actually happened, Ingram had created an entirely false memory of an event after suggestions from Ofshe. Richard Ofshe considered this successful memory implantation evidence of Paul Ingram’s suggestibility and it also casts doubt on the other confessions Ingram has made.[8]
Implications
The methods used in memory implantation studies are meant to mimic those used by some therapists to recover repressed memories of childhood events .Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). The high rate of people "remembering" false events shows that memories cannot always be taken at face value. Being told to go home and look at old photos to jog your memory can help you remember real events, but paired with suggestions from a therapist it might also lead to false memories. Memory implantation studies are also similar to recovered memory therapy in the way that they involved an authoritative figure claiming to know that the event actually happened and applying pressure on the participant/patient to remember.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). Memory implantation techniques in general also illustrate how people can come to remember things that actually never happened relatively easy. This poses a big problem for confessions to crimes resulting from suggestive questioning by police and others and also for the accuracy associated with eyewitness memory. Some people have argued that memory implantation studies are not applicable to real life memories of trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse. As it is not ethical to try to implant false memories of sexual abuse researchers have tried to get around this by choosing other events that are seen as negative but not traumatic. Being lost in a shopping mall for example would be a negative experience for most children.[1] Hyman and colleagues used memory implantation techniques with emotional events such as a specific birthday party (positive) and being hospitalized overnight(negative). They found that using emotional events did not change the rate of false memory creation significantly compared with other studies.[9]
References
- ^ a b c Loftus, Elizabeth F (1995). "The Formation of False Memories". Psychiatric Annals. 25 (12): 720–725.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Wade, Kimberley A (2002). "A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 9 (3): 597–603. doi:10.3758/BF03196318.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Lindsay, D.S (2004). "True photographs and false memories". Psychological Science. 15 (3): 149–154. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503002.x. PMID 15016285.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Wade, Kimberly A. (2005). "Strategies for verifying false autobiographical memories". The American Journal of Psychology. 118 (4): 587–602.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Wade, K.A. (2002). "A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 9: 597–603.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Garry, Maryanne (2005). "Actually, a picture is worth less than 45 words: Narratives produce more false memories than photographs do". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 12 (2): 359–366.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Lindsay, D.S. (2004). "True photographs and false memories". Psychological Science. 15: 149–154.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Ofshe, Richard J. (1992). "Inadvertent Hypnosis During Interrogation: False Confession Due to Dissociative State; Mis-Identified Multiple Personality and the Satanic Cult Hypothesis". International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. 40 (3): 125–156.
- ^ Hyman, Ira E. (1995). "False Memories of Childhood Experiences". Applied Cognitive Psychology. 9: 181–197.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)